I've been "Developing My Foundations"...

No...this is not me! :P

I just came across a recent blog post from Robertson Training Systems, and it when I read it, it was like...BHAM! Hey...that describes the year for me, and all this time what I thought was struggle, in fact was time being spent on "developing my foundations"...

Here's an excerpt from that blog, and you'll get what I mean...

"In architecture, we all know that a building is only as sound as the foundation it’s built upon.

You could have the most beautiful building known to man, but if it was built upon a poor foundation, it’s always at risk.

I would contend that this is true in almost every aspect of our lives, and today, I’m going to give you some real-world examples.

Let me begin by telling you a quick story.
This past year has been crazy. You guys know about me – I own two businesses (IFAST and RTS), I train consistently myself, and just have a ton of things going on in general.

So why has this year been harder than usual? I couldn’t figure it out until the other day, when it almost literally slapped me in the face!

The answer was simple – this year has been difficult because I’ve been rebuilding my foundation in all of these areas of my life."


You see...even though it has been a struggle, I have in fact made progress in relation to my injuries. I've overcome that initial hip injury (even though the degeneration and spur will always be there), and my muscular problems have definitely improved along with my hip/pelvis stability.

So when I look at it this way, I've come to realise that what I've done this year has been necessary and important for me to get right. I've had to go back to basics and rebuild (and I'm still doing that).

I've experimented in terms of what I thought I wanted to do, and found out what is inherently 'me' and how I do 'me' best.

So now I am in a great position, and have an idea of what I want to do next year and what I want to achieve (I've had a bit of chat to Liz, which has helped sort out the stuff I had going around in my head). My body from a structural point of view, is the best it's been for since I don't know when. And I now have a solid base once again to begin the next leg of my fitness journey.

So I'll end off with the finish of Mike Robertson's blog post. And here's to finishing strong in 2010 and starting stronger in 2011!


"At the end of the day, you’re only as strong as your foundation. I want to continue to grow both of my businesses; without ensuring the foundation was strong and stable, there’s no way I could achieve this.

These concepts apply to training as well. I still have goals and numbers I want to achieve. Going back to square one to fix things up isn’t the most exciting brand of training, but it’s absolutely necessary with the long-term goal in mind.

If you’re seeing success in training and in life, awesome! Don’t let the momentum slip between your fingers. Keep it rolling as long as you can.

But if you’re stuck, in a rut, or simply not seeing the progress you would like, critically evaluate your foundation. Chances are you may need to take a step back, and either fill in some cracks, or complete a major overhaul.

When it comes to foundational work, not only is it hard, but also it doesn’t feel like you’re accomplishing much. After all, in a lot of regards, you’ve already been there and done that!

But when it’s all said and done, you’ll be setting yourself up for long-term success."